Gauntlet
Gauntlet, as Shadowman, is the leader of the Mechanical Maniacs and is the older brother of Needlegal (Psycho Magnet). Gauntlet was also a part of Viral infection, although his involvement was mainly managerial. He was a part of the original incarnation of the team, but only became leader after six months of inactivity. Gauntlet picked the Mechs off the ground and has kept it running ever since even in the face of community collapses. Through most of the Series it's Gauntlet who decided the overall direction and story arcs. While most teams had very random epilogues, Gauntlet modelled the Mechs epilogues after comic book series adding issue numbers to each and an overall story arc connecting each story in an overall series as well as the idea that each new series must be defined with a significant change in status quo. Gauntlet was good friends with Gary Martin of the Sinister Six and Ben (of various team). When the Xtreme Team hacked the Sinister Six Gauntlet combed through archives and remade it, securing a place for it on Planet Megaman's server. Gauntlet completed several Sinister Six epilogues and contributed ideas towards Gary's Ice VS Red. When Gary died Gauntlet finished off the S6 epilogue series and restored the S6 archives he discovered on a computer. He also added the X-Force epilogues to the Sinister Six site, ensuring a complete copy remained of his time with Gary and Ben. Gauntlet runs the Mechanical Maniacs forums where most Megaman Teams got their start. Under Gauntlet, the forums eventually merged with other teams to form Megaman United. This didn't last long, however, as multiple forum changes and teams shutting down ended his version the concept. In the epilogues Shadowman is the same character as the Shadowman from Megaman 3. He has a "Gauntlet" "human form", but this is clarified as being a disguise in later epilogues. With the most history out of any team members Gauntlet has been involved in nearly all adventures of the Mechanical Maniacs. He has the habit of saving choice moments for himself during the series. Personality In Series 1, Shadowman’s personality began as a shiftless layabout who detested doing any true work to a dedicated leader of the team. The joke was that he used his ninja powers for very petty things, such as getting out of work or not paying for anything (using a counterfeit money machine frequently). Shadowman is a very private individual who uses the cloak of secrecy to just not tell anybody much of anything. He also finds it fun to mess with people in this way, withholding trivial bits of information just to mess with people. Despite this Shadowman became the leader of the team in Series 2. As a leader he is dedicated and resourceful, however he hates being told that he’s wrong and this leads him to make foolhardy mistakes. Shadowman is intelligent, but not technically minded. His leadership role forced him to outgrow his previous lazy mentality. Shadowman is depicted as a bad friend, even if he’s leader of the ‘Maniacs. He often takes without asking and is sometimes hard to find when he’s needed. In relation to the Sinister Six, he sometimes takes things without asking (or giving them back) and, in Series 4, took advantage of the S6's overall generosity by having his entire team crash at their base (as the Mechs were homeless at the time). That said, even if he’s a bad friend he still sticks by his friends through thick and thin. Shadowman has a slight case of kleptomania. In other words he can’t help but want to steal all the shiny things he sees. This used to cause him to steal the Sunfire model of car … mostly because he liked the name. This would go on for a long period of time. Shadowman’s morality is somewhat ambiguous. Although he’s Catholic (and where he picked that up is a mystery) he still believes in doing anything possible to win, sometimes going in excess. He’s been known to cross a few lines in doing what he thinks will benefit himself or the team in the long run. Unlike some other team members Shadowman was never human. The name and form of "Gauntlet" is just an alias; Gauntlet is the Shadowman from Megaman 3. Early epilogues showed Gauntlet using a variety of powers, but these were just illusions he used in jest. In Series 8 Gauntlet is the last original Megaman 3 Robot Master on the team (the others having been replaced by others at various times). Gauntlet is very methodical, both out of and on the battlefield, and prefers to plan as many details out as possible before proceeding with the next phase of a job. He’s very asserting as a command figure, and assumed the role of the team captain before anyone else would. Since his team has been very successful, albeit destructive, his leadership is considered uncanny and unrivalled thus far. Off the battlefield, Gauntlet is not one to hang around the base, and ventures out often, though to where, no one but he knows. He appears to always be monitoring his team in some way, as he always appears just as he’s needed in most cases, and usually with some sort of info useful to the current situation. Its speculated that he spies on his foes almost constantly, and uses his Shadow Dive to quickly get back to his comrades completely unseen. Relationships Attempts to ignore Geminiman’s (Lennon's) daily criticism, though he does develop a rivalry with him; Is close with Needle and Snake, confiding personal feelings with Needle, and entrusting Snake as his second in command; Is neutral with Top (Spinning demon), though does show signs of annoyance on occasion; Trusts Hardman (Hadrian), but not as much as Snake (Raijin) or Needle (Psycho Magnet); Critical of Magnetman (Kenta), but protective in the same light; trusts Spark (Spark Chan) on occasion and is cordial with her. Series Information Shadowman is a robot master from Megaman 3. He was unearthed at the ruins of an ancient civilization and was remade into a ninja. It's said Wily had a hand in his creation and, while nobody was looking, quickly registered him as a DWN. He was built for espionage. Along with the other Megaman 3 robots, Protoman took the ninja down and Shadowman became a part of Dr. Wily’s scheme to take over the world. After Megaman 3, Sparkman (Sean) rebuilt the team, including Shadowman. Sometime before or during this Shadowman began using the “Gauntlet” form and moniker as a pseudonym, however it isn’t truly a different form, it’s just a disguise. At some point Shadowman learned of Xelloss’ catch phrase and began using it. The Shadowmen found in other games (like the Power Fighters) are not the same Shadowman as the original. We first meet Gauntlet through a series of solo stories where he tries to do his own thing, but keeps running into Galvatron who sees it as a plot and develops a grudge against him and his team. At the end of Series 1 the old leader of the Mechs (Topman aka CJ) quit and Gauntlet assumed command at the start of Series 2. He also recruited his sister Psycho magnet to join the team as Needlegal at this time. During Series 2 he was cloned by Doc Robot. His clone, Bizarro Shadowman, would plague the team for years to come. In Series 3 the team takes to the open road following the destruction of their base and gaining Transmetal Armour. Right at the start Sharkman attacks the team with his new Navi form after which he forms his own team - Viral Infection - based on the first Battle Network game. Shadowman and Topman (Spinning Demon) created a copy of themselves and joined the team as Shadowman.EXE and Gutsman.EXE. It’s noted that Navi forms, in the epiverse, were created by Capcom and classic robot masters were reformatted by a few different enemies in the wake of this sweeping change. While on the road, Gauntlet's use of the catchphrase "now that is a secret" catches up with the team when it's originator - Xelloss learns he's been claiming it. The mysterious priest would pester the team for year to come, but during Series 3 he's one of several people keeping an eye on characters who can generate Shadowblades as part of a greater plan to control reality (spoiler: that plan fails). Series 3 would also see Dr. Wily turn Lennon Evil for the first time. He targets Gauntlet and would return to normality (for a time), but his feud with Gauntlet in the epilogues would begin at this point. In the end Gauntlet was one of the Mechs shunted to another dimension in the Series 3 finale. When it was discovered that Dr. Doppler was behind the evil Megaman 3 team's actions in that reality the Mechs faced down and destroyed their counterparts and finally confronted the doctor and an augmented Bizarro Shadowman. While the entire team played a role in the victory Gauntlet was the one who sent a message to the future in order to bring future heroes back to the right time in reality in order to arrest Doppler (it was a good Sigma who did that) as well as setting the coordinates to a random point in their home reality to send Bizarro to his death (or so they hoped). When back in their home realityGauntlet and the other Mechs took part in the Sinister Six's Ice VS Red. He and SD re-merged with their Viral Infection copies and annihilated the team easily. He was with the Mechs when they staged their final attack against the Decepticons and both he and Spinning Demon attacked Bizarro as he was beginning to upgrade into an unstoppable virus using their Viral-Infection derived Navi Forms. During Series 5 the counterfeit money machine finally fails the ninja and he stops using it for good. At this time Shadowman decided it would be a great idea to use schematics of the Mechs to create cheap knockoffs of the team. The factory would later be acquired by Xelloss (and he would keep it until his plan to use a knockoff to recreate Bizarro Shadowman fails). In Series 6 Shadowman pushed the team into becoming cops, which led them to the Robot Police Force. The team's good relationship with Dr. Light also led to him giving them their Transmetal 2 armours. Shadowman's role in the 'Maniacs as a police officer is espionage/ intelligence gathering/ captain. His inherent abilities make him the perfect spy right off the bat. Hell, that's what a ninja does anyways. Right at the start of the series Magnetman (Johnathan) quits and Mesmerman manipulated Gauntlet behind the scenes into accepting the mentally unstable Kenta Eigen into the team. During WANTED the Mechs are framed for the destruction of LA. During this story Shadowman faces off against the "ninja of light" Dusk. As evidenced by his title he's powered by light and can negate the advantage Shadowman's powers give him, however the ninja manages to defeat him (but not to kill him). After everything is revealed to involve a rebuilt General Cutman, Gauntlet faces the inane robot, but can't kill him despite using his super-secret Arm Cannon. Still, he does manage to destroy the core of a powerful microwave bomb the General was going to make. He also recorded General Cutman's exposition using the camera in his usually-closed eye which gave the team the evidence they needed to clear their name. When General Cutman started his war (immediately recruiting Mangetman to his cause) and the RPD decided to institute a shutdown code throughout their forces Shadowman decided to stick with the RPD to use their resources to fight the emerging threat of the Scissor Army. Spark and Top both disliked this idea and left the team immediately. Under Mesmerman's influence Geminiman left as well. Shadowman became separated from the team thanks to Crorq's interference (he was promoted to lieutenant commander). During one mission Shadowman hacked into the Scissor Army's computer systems and got a hold of General Cutman's basic schematics. Feeling stressed, Shadowman found plans for his genius chip among these and replicated it and installed it within himself. This gave him great technological insight and he also understood Bizarro Shadowman's technology (which the Technodrome had one file). using this he augmented himself. This was short lived, however. During the first mission out with these enhancements growing paranoia and obsession causes him to lose it on everyone. The enhancements are removed (with the plans presumably destroyed) and Shadowman is removed as team leader (along with several other repercussions). Shadowman would be re-instated for the Mech's final assault on the General's base. He would battle the General along with everyone else and would leads the assault on Mesmerman's own satellite at the end of the war, although it would be General Cutman who would finally defeat the masterless puppet and bring an end to the war he started. At the very end of the War the General would contact Shadowman and reveal that he was still alive and claim he would mould the Mech into his protégé. At the start of the 15 year gap between Series 6 and 7 Shadowman would be forced to fire Hadrian for gross misconduct. He would also turn on the General, with none of the Mechs actually being fooled by his lies. Shadow and Gemini would remain with the General in a mission to end his menace once and for all in order to ensure that, not only would an explosion claim his life, but that a scrambler they were carrying would stop him from downloading into a new body by ensuring it was operational until the end. The General escaped using time travel, however. A time travelling Quint would come to Shadow and Gemini's aid. In Series 7 it was revealed that the General went back to the end of Megaman 3, intending to infect the Mechs with a virus before they even got started. Disguised as Shadow, Gemini stopped him and bought time for the real Shadowman, Quint, and a copy of himself to set up devices that allowed General Cutman to be transported tot he Day of Sigma. Which finally killed him. Shadowman was returned about 15 years after he was taken thanks to Quint's incompetence. He and Gemini found out the team had totally dissolved in their absence. They tracked down the Transmetal 2 Armour and reunited the Mechs to fight the threat of Middleman (which they also learned of.) After this they all rejoined the Robot Police. Shadowman became bent on reclaiming the past and obsessed over finding the Technodrome's lost eyeball. He was with the team as the Sinister Six finally enacted a long winded plan to take over the world and lay claim to the remains of Bizarro Shadowman. Abilities As Shadowman, Gauntlet had the base powers of the robot master and well as wearing the 1, 2, and 3 versions of the Transmetal Armour. His "human form" carries an extending staff and can fire "Matrix blasts" from his gauntlets. Writer's Notes Series 1 was very offbeat and Gauntlet used this to do many wacky things, such as lift anime attacks for no reason and to introduce Galvatron into the series, also for no reason other than he liked him. Last series would get rid of Galvatron and explain away the offbeat attacks as mere illusions. Before joining the Robot Police Gauntlet used his ninja skills for petty larceny. He enjoyed stealing Sunfires because fo the name and used a wallett-sized counterfiet money machine (until counterfie money detectors became too common and made the device impractical to use). In "A clone of your own" Gauntlet stole a cloning machine and Gary used it to annoy the Mechs, especially Gauntlet. When gary annoys the ninja he's prone to calling him an "annoying prankster." Another thing Gauntlet enjoys stealing is catchphrases. Shadowman used to say "Now THAT is a SECRET" every chance he got. Once confronted by Xelloss this catchphrase was used sparingly until it finally wasn't used at all. Although is would be years for the Mechs to finally be rid of the trickster priest. In Gary-written epilogues Gauntlet is usually refferred to as a spotlight stealer and enjoys disappearing in a puff of smoke (soemtimes the team is quick enough to see the ninja jogging away to make good use of the distraction). Under the pen of either the real-life Gary or Gauntlet, he has a nasty habit of abusing his friendship with the good natured robot, often stealing his things and even forcing the entire Mechs on S6 HQ in the latter half of Series 4. Still, he's usually one of the first there when he's needed. Shadowman has grown more serious over time. By Series 6 he was very capable and reliable. Category:Epilogue Characters